Arizona vs Oregon football preview

Marison Bilagody

Arizona football defensive coordinator, Don Brown, talks to the Arizona defense on the Arizona Stadium field during the Wildcats’ home opener game on Sept. 11. The Arizona defense gave up 38 points against San Diego State University in the loss. 

Ryan Wohl

Arizona plays its fourth game of the season tonight at 7:30 p.m. PST in Eugene, Oregeon, against the No. 3 ranked Oregon Ducks.

Dave Flemming and Rod Gilmore will be on the call for ESPN at Autzen Stadium alongside sideline reporter Stormy Buonantony.

This is the first time the two teams will be facing each other since 2019, where Oregon defeated Arizona by a score of 34-6 in Eugene. The Ducks lead the all time series between the two schools 27-17, beating the Wildcats in four of the last five games played.

The Wildcats have gotten off to a slow start this season after losing to BYU, San Diego State University and NAU in Jedd Fisch’s first three games as head coach, but the competition continues to get harder. On a positive note, Arizona’s defense has been playing well so far, where they have held their opponents to under 25 points in two out of their three games played.

Arizona is averaging seven tackles per game which is good for second in the Pac-12 and 37th in the country. The team has also only allowed 160.7 passing yards per game, that puts them in the top 20 for the category.

Stanley Berryhill III has been Arizona’s most consistent player up until this point where he is second in the Pac-12 in receptions through three games with 28, also is fourth in the nation in catches.

The Wildcats haven’t beat a ranked opponent away from Tucson since 2014 where they defeated the 20th ranked Utah Utes. Seven years ago, Arizona defeated the No. 2 ranked Ducks in Eugene 31-24 extending their winning streak to two games tying their longest winning streak against Oregon since 1988.

RELATED: Six key plays from the Wildcats’ loss to NAU

Arizona enters Saturday night’s contest against Oregon as 29.5 point underdogs. The Wildcats and the Ducks have each only covered the spread once this season.


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